Le Pont Neuf - Vu des Ecluses, Paris 1912

Herman Armour Webster made this print, Le Pont Neuf - Vu des Ecluses, Paris, using a metal plate. It's all about the process here. The artist is meticulously building up a complex image from a simple vocabulary of marks, almost like musical notation. The surface is quite amazing. Close up, it's an intricate collection of etched lines, giving a real sense of texture and depth to the water and the stone of the bridge. Look at the reflections in the water, how they shimmer with tiny, broken lines. See how the light catches the bridge in the distance? It feels like he’s really trying to capture not just the look, but the very feeling of a specific time. This kind of detailed architectural rendering reminds me a little of Piranesi. Both artists share a love of detail and create a sense of atmosphere through mark-making, which is really what printmaking is all about. It’s not about perfection, but about how ideas bounce around across time.